# What's the oldest piece of media you engage with? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 26, 2023, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-piece-of-media-you-engage-with/983224 "2023-04-26T20:02:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2023, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-piece-of-media-you-engage-with/983224/21 "2023-04-26T23:07:25Z")
For literature, it’s the Bible, read it three times cover to cover and often come back to it, at least to my favorite books. I’m not religious, but I’m very fond of myths, legends and fairy tales. I’ve also read the Iliad (not in Homer’s verse, but in a 19th century prose adaption and in Stephen Fry’s recollection) and many German legends and fairy tales (the brothers Grimm’s “Kinder und Hausmärchen” is probably my favorite book). As for music, the oldest (composed and recorded, I’m not a classical music guy) is Blues from the early 1920s. That’s about the same cut-off as for movies, though I’ve also watched pre-1920s movies. As for art, I like art from every era, beginning with the oldest cave paintings which I find fascinating but do not regularly seek out, so engage would be too big a word. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2023, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-piece-of-media-you-engage-with/983224/22 "2023-04-26T23:14:40Z")
> [@NinthAcolyte](#): > > > [@AHunter3](#): > > > > I do in fact have cave paintings (Native American, not Lascaux or Chauvet) that are in my rotation of desktop pictures, precisely because I think they’re pretty awesome. I dont write art critiques of them or anything but I enjoy seeing them when they’re on. > > That’s a perfectly valid answer! [![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/f/f42effe0b7c5fa50461cbfe473697432404644e4.jpeg) ](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/f/f42effe0b7c5fa50461cbfe473697432404644e4.jpeg) from the Bandelier area near White Rock / Los Alamos NM ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2023, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-piece-of-media-you-engage-with/983224/23 "2023-04-26T23:15:42Z")
Wow, cool. They look like Sisters of Mercy album covers. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-piece-of-media-you-engage-with/983224/24 "2023-04-27T00:47:00Z")
Like a couple others, Bach and other Baroque composers. The Bible because of church. For media made in the age of electricity, I love Philly Soul (1970s). Also _Yankee Doodle Dandy_ for films. [![Imgur](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52849469466_ac4260bedd_m.jpg "250px-James\_Cagney\_in\_Yankee\_Doodle\_Dandy\_trailer") ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/68782016@N08/52849469466/) ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-piece-of-media-you-engage-with/983224/25 "2023-04-27T01:05:50Z")
On a regular basis? Just old comic books from the 1940s these days. I’ve also been taking a pretty deep dive into 1950s proto-Rock and Roll. I think I’ve already read all of the classics I want to and pretty much the same for old movies (although I do drag them out for a monthly outdoor movie night; most recently, _The Bride of Frankenstein_) ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-piece-of-media-you-engage-with/983224/26 "2023-04-27T01:18:45Z")
Excluding the Bible as a bit too obvious, for me it would probably be Billy Shakes. Just last month I played Lord Montague (or, as he’s sometimes called, “Old Montague!”) in a local production of Romeo and Juliet. That particular theater company does at least one Shakespeare play each season, and I will usually go see them if I’m not in them. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-piece-of-media-you-engage-with/983224/27 "2023-04-27T01:28:20Z")
Sherlock Holmes. Just went through the collected stories again within the last year. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-piece-of-media-you-engage-with/983224/28 "2023-04-27T01:32:28Z")
Besides reading the Bible, I often listen to the Iliad read by Ian MacKellen on road trips. My church choir has old music in its repertoire; in a couple weeks we’re singing a Tallis piece (1500s) but Easter itself has some very old traditional chant such as the Exultet which is circa 6th century A.D. I’ve read the Gilgamesh Epic in several translations but not that recently. The earliest fragments date to 2000 BC. It’s a great story, and I used to fantasize about starting a bar called Siduri’s. Siduri is the divine barmaid at the end of the world, who dispenses timeless advice. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-piece-of-media-you-engage-with/983224/29 "2023-04-27T02:06:50Z")
I regularly go back through several of my college textbooks for reference. They’re older than many of you here. There are a bunch of old movies I make a point of catching when they’re on. I guess the oldest is probably _Metropolis_ from 1927. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-piece-of-media-you-engage-with/983224/30 "2023-04-27T02:39:08Z")
Vivaldi and Bach are on my phone, so they come up fairly often during walks.Also tons of Beethoven. I often dive into my Mr. Dooley in an original collection from around 1900. I have a pirated Jules Verne from 1868, but I wouldn’t call it a frequent read. And I often listen to the '60s channel on Sirius. Musically I listen to little after 2000. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-piece-of-media-you-engage-with/983224/31 "2023-04-27T02:44:24Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > 16th century polyphonic choral music That is awesome, it’s on my study playlist. Cheers! I read Victorian novels regularly, or used too. And I’m a dude. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-piece-of-media-you-engage-with/983224/32 "2023-04-27T03:03:42Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > > [@AHunter3](#): > > > > 16th century polyphonic choral music > > That is awesome, it’s on my study playlist. Cheers! This was us, 1975: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/pjTbXgIdOtU/hqdefault.jpg "Los Alamos Choir - O Magnum Mysterium (Victoria)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjTbXgIdOtU) ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-piece-of-media-you-engage-with/983224/33 "2023-04-27T03:17:48Z")
The singing is fantastic, it’s too bad the recording is well…from 1975. Well done! ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-piece-of-media-you-engage-with/983224/34 "2023-04-27T15:33:24Z")
I sometimes play the Seikilos Epitaph, the oldest surviving complete musical composition, probably dating from the 1st or the 2nd century CE, on instruments. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGfOHoun0OQ&ab\_channel=MarjanFawzi2017 ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-piece-of-media-you-engage-with/983224/35 "2023-04-27T15:36:26Z")
I have an Egyptian bust from the Ptolemaic period, about 2,300 years old, in my office, that I look at several times a day. And a piece of petrified wood from Montana, that I use as a paper weight, about 50 million years old. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-piece-of-media-you-engage-with/983224/36 "2023-04-27T16:09:23Z")
I have a small collection of Keystone stereoscope cards from the early 1900s. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-piece-of-media-you-engage-with/983224/37 "2023-04-27T16:11:56Z")
Cave paintings, various religious texts, Epic of Gilgamesh. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-piece-of-media-you-engage-with/983224/38 "2023-04-27T16:15:23Z")
Other than the Bible and commentaries thereupon, the oldest stuff I engage with on a semi-regular basis would be nineteenth century novelists like Twain, Dickens and Hugo. ---
**Author:** ![NinthAcolyte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ninthacolyte/32/13676_2.png) [@NinthAcolyte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinthAcolyte)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-piece-of-media-you-engage-with/983224/39 "2023-04-27T16:15:45Z")
> [@susan](#): > > Epic of Gilgamesh Ooh, I should have thought of that’n - my car’s name is Ereshkigal! 'Cus she’s powerful, and black, and I, uh… Was kind of suicidal and thinking about driving her of a cliff, so… Death-goddess… Yeeeaaah… ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-piece-of-media-you-engage-with/983224/40 "2023-04-27T16:55:55Z")
Yeah, I have [Gilgamesh’s Lament for Enkidu](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd7qeP3R5vw) in regular rotation… That and I do regularly visit [cave paintings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stadsaal_Caves)…but they’re not _that_ old. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-piece-of-media-you-engage-with/983224.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-piece-of-media-you-engage-with/983224.md?page=3)